Orientalists & Hadeeth Origin

The Orientalist Schacht claims that hadeeth were all fabricated by the companions and successors whenever they saw a good practise in the lands they conquered. He says: “Mutilation as a punishment for coin clippers and counterfeiters is advocated by spurious “hadeeths” quoted in Baladhooree. R.S. Lopez in Byzantine, 16/445 ff, has suggested a Byzantine origin. If this is correct, it would be a case of proposed adoption of a judicial practice which existed in the conquered territories.” [Foreign Elements, 14]

Ash-Shaykh M. M. Al-Azami replies to this by stating: “In Baladhooree, there are references to the practice of Marwaan and Abaan Ibn ‘Uthmaan who punished coin-clippers by flogging or chopping off the hand. But there is no hadeeth; neither spurious nor authentic. Thus his statement is wrong.

Further, if they punished, and Romans also used to punish this crime, then to claim that it might have been taken from them is ridiculous. It is doubtful whether any government would reward the coin-clippers for their “fine-art” and “handskill”. It is quite normal that every government would punish them.” [Studies In Early Hadeeth Literature, p. 267]

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